Kevin McCarthyThat crashing sound heard earlier this month was the Republican party running head first into a brick wall of reality.

As House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy—the GOP heir apparent—announced he was stepping aside in the race for Speaker of the House, public relations managers across the country immediately recognized a brand identity issue metastasizing into a full-blown public relations crisis.

In less than a year, the Republican Party has gone from election-day victories that put both chambers of Congress back in their control to a brand crisis that may permanently drive many of their voters from the party. How did it go so wrong so quickly?

The answer is an issue that PR pros deal with all the time when an organization puts immediate success ahead of long-term progress. Republicans achieved that success in winning back control of the House and the Senate, but how they achieved it has left the organization divided, catering to different customer bases (in this case, voters) and struggling to implement its core mission of governing and furthering the Republican agenda.

As a result, Republicans are caught in a Catch-22: They either upset the more conservative members of their party—many of whom helped the party win its majorities—or alienate the traditional, “Big-Tent” Republican voters brought into the party during the Reagan and George W. Bush years.

The Republicans’ first mistake—a mistake many corporations often make – was to address their current issue with a leadership change instead of getting to the root of the problem and administrating a more comprehensive set of changes. That backfired. And while, political pundits will continue to debate who the next leader should be, such as Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, the party needs to find a way to get back on track.

So, from a PR and communications standpoint, how does the GOP start to rebrand itself?

Here are three steps the GOP should take as they try to extinguish this public relations fire and reestablish a brand that is intended to appeal to a majority of Americans:

• Come together. Effective communications for any organization requires a unified strategy; only then can the leadership take the next steps to develop a consistent message that builds and defines a brand. The two factions of the Republican party will have to find a way to coexist and work together before any efforts to rebuild the party’s brand can begin.

• Start small. Look for short-term victories that can keep the party focused through the presidential election. That may mean promoting the accomplishments of individual members, supporting candidates to help them keep majorities in Congress and winning the White House. The point is, like any business or organization, focus on what you do best and work hard at to it to rebuild trust and credibility among your key constituents.

• Present a vision. The future of the Republican Party is, at best, murky. Some political pundits have gone so far as to predict a cleave into two parties. To avoid this fate, Republicans will have to articulate a clear vision for the future of the country to the American people. A business in crisis can get back on its feet through a unified strategy and return to what it does best. However, to stay successful and continue to grow, as any organizations wants to do, requires innovation and a long-term strategy to retain current customers and win new ones.

Regardless of the path Republicans choose, if they fail to coalesce around a unified strategy and reestablish a brand that identifies who they are, what they stand for and who they represent, as a party, their majorities and electoral success will be short-lived.

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Bryan DeAngelis is Director at Kivvit. He can be reached at [email protected]; Follow him on Twitter,@bdeangelis82